Second-ranked Spartans stop Swathers

Wednesday

Dec 5, 2012 at 4:14 AMDec 5, 2012 at 4:14 AM

By Mark Schnabel Newton Kansan

HESSTON — Second-ranked (KBCA, Class 5A) Emporia was too much for the Hesston High School boys’ basketball team to handle inside in a 70-34 Spartan win at Hesston in the first round of the Garden Plain Classic. Emporia, 2-0, was able to overpower the Swathers physically, jumping to an early advantage Hesston could not overcome. “We were terrible early in transition, and that got us in a hole,” Hesston coach Greg Raleigh said. “They are very athletic. We knew what they were going to do. I don’t think the kids realized how athletic they were getting up and down the court. Offensively, we’re going to have to be more patient. We’re going to have to get better shots.” Hesston was 11 of 45 shooting. Emporia was 29 of 55. J.L. Savage led Emporia with 22 points. Garin Vandiver scored 19 points. Xavier Perez scored 10 points. Hesston was led by Grant Raleigh with 18 points. No other Hesston player scored more than four points. Emporia jumped out 10-3 early, extending the lead to nine by the end of the period, 19-10. Emporia jumped out to a 7-2 run in the second quarter and led by as many as 29. The Spartans led by 20 at the break, 48-20. Emporia opened the third quarter with a 7-2 run. The Spartans led 63-27 at the end of the period. “We just don’t realize, when we need a basket, you have to bear down and get one,” Greg Raleigh said. “We have a lot of kids who think they need to be the one. We start rushing things, try to get back too fast. I told them this is a very good team. We’ll bounce back Thursday and Friday.” Hesston closes out classic play Thursday and Friday against Garden Plain and Rose Hill at Garden Plain. “They are two very athletic teams,” Greg Raleigh said. “They both had pretty good football teams. This is one we’re going to forget and we’ll move on. ... We’ll get better.”EMPORIA (2-0) — Savage 5 (4) 0-0 2, 22; Williams 0 0-0 2, 0; Perez 5 0-3 2, 10; Taylor 0 (1) 0-0 2, 3; Pardo 0 0-0 0, 0; Morrow 0 5-6 1, 5; Vandiver 8 (1) 0-0 2, 19; Ford 1 0-0 0, 2; Thompson 1 0-0 4, 2; Tilton 0 0-0 2, 0; Torres 3 1-1 3, 7; Olsson 0 0-0 0, 0; Luthi 0 0-0 0, 0; MacArany 0 0-0 0, 0; TOTALS 23 (6) 6-10 20, 70. HESSTON (0-1) — Gehrer 1 1-3 3, 3; Dahlsten 0 0-0 0, 0; Geidel 0 0-0 0, 0; Raleigh 3 (4) 0-0 0, 18; Rostetter 0 1-2 1, 1; Baldauf 0 0-0 0, 0; McCartney 1 2-2 1, 4; Smith 0 0-1 1, 0; Schadler 0 4-9 4, 4; Becker 0 0-0 1, 0; Jensen 0 0-0 0, 0; Wenger 0 0-0 0, 0; Simpson 0 0-0 0, 0; McKinney 2 0-0 3, 4; TOTALS 7 (4) 8-17 15, 34. Emporia 19 29 15 7 —70 Hesston 10 10 7 7 —34